Author: Dose

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Poor start to the season: Trevor Zegras continues to regress year on year

The Anaheim Ducks are not off to the desired start, with a 3-3-1 record.

Troy Terry and Leo Carlsson are doing very well, with 6 and 5 points respectively in seven games.

Trevor Zegras, on the other hand, is in dire straits.

He has just two points, despite some quality playing time in attacking situations.

He needs to do better. He needs to be one of the club’s offensive leaders, otherwise he’s of little use to the team.

It’s worth noting, however, that this is just a sample and that he can bounce back overnight, as he has all the talent to do so.

His two points in seven games put him on pace for a 23-point season…

Once again, the American disappoints and regresses from year to year, as can be seen in the tweet below.

This tweet shows Zegras’ points pace over an 82-game season since his arrival in the NHL, and it’s not pretty…

And it’s not just a slight regression, with the pace quietly bouncing back not fast.

There’s simply a big drop-off in production, and the Ducks have to ask themselves some questions, and I say to myself that the club MUST trade Zegras.

On the other hand, if there’s a silver lining for Anaheim in all this, it’s that the club is flush with promising young centers.

Leo Carlsson, Mason McTavish, Cutter Gauthier and Zegras come to mind.

The latter two, however, are employed on the wing this season.

By trading Zegras, although the value isn’t very high at the moment, it would allow the Ducks to pick up a more essential need.

A winger who is known for scoring goals would be beneficial, as there isn’t really a pure maverick, although Gauthier and McTavish can fill the net just fine.

A guy like Jake Debrusk, who hasn’t had a good start to the season in Vancouver, would be a logical target.

It should be pointed out that other teams won’t want to give the moon for Zegras right now, and a trade for players who aren’t producing up to expectations seems logical.

In short, the Ducks have quite a situation ahead of them, and they can’t let it go any longer.

They need to do something about Zegras, once and for all.

In Overtime

– Unbelievable!

– Well.

– The Québécois recently announced his retirement, but the Habs can be pleased with what they got by trading him to the Blues.

– Indeed.

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Pascal Leclaire would send Cole Caufield to the stands for a game

The Montreal Canadiens are off to a more or less respectable start to the season, despite the absence of key players such as Juraj Slafkovsky, Patrik Laine and Kaiden Guhle.

It’s hard to do better than that under the circumstances, even if there are a few things to improve on.

One thing’s for sure: Cole Caufield has been on fire since the start of the campaign, scoring seven goals in just eight games.

He’s definitely looking to make up for last year in the goals column, and there’s not much to say about his game, even if he’s not perfect 100% of the time.

On the other hand, former goalkeeper Pascal Leclaire has a very particular opinion of the little forward.

Appearing on La Poche Bleue in a recent episode of Taverne Hockey, Leclaire made an unexpected statement.

Tony Marinaro was talking about certain players who deserve to skip their turn, and the idea of sending guys like Arber Xhekaj or Jayden Struble to Laval doesn’t have much impact in the bedroom.

On the other hand, he said that if a guy like Josh Anderson was demoted, it would get the attention of the guys in the room and send a big message.

Leclaire countered by saying, instead of sending guys to Laval, why don’t they take a walk in the stands?

And that’s when he suggested Cole Caufield…

I’ll let you hear for yourself:

Clicking on the YouTube video above will take you directly to the excerpt in question.

To explain his point of view, the former goalkeeper mentioned that Caufield always scores the same way, and if he doesn’t, you don’t see him in the game.

Maybe Caufield isn’t the best defensively, although he’s far from being a burden there, but he’s scored in almost every game this season.

And that’s what we want from #13: for him to score goals.

It’s a bit of a stretch, if you ask me.

In fact, even Tony couldn’t believe it when Leclaire said that.

Will we get another call from Marinaro to his mother during his morning show on BPM Sports?

She should have the answer.

Overtime

– Good news for the Habs: Josh Anderson will play tonight.

– Let’s see if the Habs can keep this momentum going against the Philadelphia Flyers tonight.

– Could it be time for the Ducks to trade their star?

– Demidov isn’t just a one-dimensional player.

– The talented Washington Capitals prospect is off to a great start this season.

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Patrick Roy publicly questions Lou Lamoriello’s decision

Lou Lamoriello, President and General Manager of the New York Islanders, and Patrick Roy aren’t known for having their tongues in their pockets. When Roy was hired to coach the Long Island team, many wondered how the two hot-tempered personalities would get along.

Well, we may be witnessing the first friction between the coach and his general manager. Yesterday, following a 6-3 loss to the Florida Panthers after leading 3-0, Roy seems to have questioned his GM’s decision to recall player Pierre Engvall for the game, as reported by Toutsurlehockey.com.

Questioned in the post-game interview, the former goaltender said he understood what Engvall had done for the team over the past two years, and that he imagined (“I guess”) Lou thought it was a good time to call him back.

A little earlier, Roy had also said “I think Lou thinks physicality is important for us”.

The problem is that so far, Engvall has had a very ordinary start to the AHL season with the Islanders’ school team, with just one goal and a record of -3 in six games. Nothing to justify a recall…

Except perhaps his contract of three million a year until 2030! That’s a hefty price to pay for a player in the AHL, and it’s understandable that Lamoriello must be uncomfortable with the current situation. Whether to justify his contract or to trade his player, Lou ideally needs Engvall to play in the NHL.

But Roy wants and needs to win immediately. The Islanders are an aging team who want to get into the post-season playoffs while their window is still open, and hope to make a run for it afterwards.

And to get there, it’s understandable that the coach wants to give himself the best possible tools, and he doesn’t seem to consider Engvall to be one of them. In fact, the forward was Roy’s second-worst-used player in yesterday’s match, with just 10 minutes 37 minutes of playing time.

While Roy hasn’t openly questioned his general manager’s decision, he does seem to imply that he doesn’t endorse it or take the blame for it.

Are we already witnessing the end of the honeymoon between Pat and Lou? We know that Lamoriello can sometimes make surprising and impulsive decisions, especially if he’s not satisfied (talk to Claude Julien!).

And if the Islanders get off to a rocky start this season, could we see the former Canadiens goaltender quickly dismissed after waiting nearly seven years for a return to the bench of a National League team? It’s a little early to speculate, but it’ll be an interesting situation to follow!

In Overtime

– Kapanen and Hutson popular!

– A sixth win for Green Bay.

– Close game won by the Cards.

– Canadiens win.

– Listen up!

– Impressive!

– Really cute!

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Matvei Michkov: a gamble that pays off for Daniel Brière

NASHVILLE, TN - JUNE 28: Matvei Michkov is shown with Daniel Briere and Keith Jones during the first round of the 2023 Upper Deck NHL Draft, held on June 28, 2023, at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Danny Murphy/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Tonight, the Canadiens visit Philadelphia for their second game in twenty-four hours, this time against the Flyers. This will be an important game for both teams, who won the day before and are both looking to build on their momentum following difficult starts to the season.

It will also be the first opportunity for Habs fans to see Matvei Michkov face their team. The rookie has made an excellent start to the campaign with nine points, including four goals in eight games. The Russian forward is particularly threatening with the man advantage, already tallying three goals and six points on the power play.

Today, Daniel Brière, the Flyers’ General Manager, must be very happy with his first major decision upon taking office!

Michkov’s seventh-round selection was a risky move, given that he was under contract to SKA St. Petersburg in the KHL for three years and had a reputation as a lazy player.

The Canadiens could have selected the Russian fifth, but chose David Reinbacher instead. However, it’s possible that Mishkov arranged to play in Philadelphia and didn’t want to come to Montreal.

In short, could tonight’s game (and his impressive start to the season) make fans and team management regret turning their noses up at the young forward? Maybe so. It’s definitely going to be interesting to watch!

It’s still early days, but so far Brière seems to have won his bet. By his own admission, “[Michkov] is impressive. So far, he’s better than I expected,” as we learn in the TVA Sport article.

The Flyers organization has also gone to great lengths to facilitate the arrival and integration of its young prospect in North America. Even theiriron-fisted coach , John Tortorella, seems willing to give his forward a certain amount of freedom to express his offensive talent.

In short, while the Flyers have had an even tougher start to the season than the Canadiens, with just two wins, Matvei Michkov’s performance is one of the great stories of the start of the NHL season, and very good news for the Flyers.

And it’s likely to be the talk of Montreal, not only because of the comparisons with Reinbacher, but also with our prospect Ivan Demidov, whose situation is very similar to Michkov’s.

Overtime

– Ohtani will be there!

– Pat and Lou at loggerheads?

– A big loss for the Sens.

– Big win for the Lions!

– Knee injury for Diggs.

– Some great NFL plays.

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When the Senators change goalies four times in a few minutes

DENVER, COLORADO - OCTOBER 27: Goaltender Anton Forsberg #31 and Jake Sanderson #85 of the Ottawa Senators defend against the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena on October 27, 2024 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Michael Martin/NHLI via Getty Images)

Normally, when a goalie comes off a game, it’s either because he doesn’t have it, or because he’s injured. I’m talking about the regular season, not practice camp.

But yesterday, the Senators surprised a lot of people.

But why? Because in the space of just a few minutes, the Ottawa club changed goalies four times. Let’s just say it wasn’t exactly a typical situation.

Basically, in a 5-4 loss in Colorado, Anton Forsberg had a problem with the blade of his skate early in the second. It was then 1-0 to Colorado… and instead of taking the time to stop the game, the Sens picked up Linus Ullmark.

Seconds (and a fine save) later, the regular returned.

But it took a few minutes before we saw Ullmark again. And then he stayed for just over four minutes, just long enough for Forsberg to get back into the game – for good.

The result is this:

Ullmark received two shots in all and saved both of them. It was 1-0 midway through the game, when Forsberg returned to the net for good after all that.

The second ended 2-0 and it was in the third that it all came crashing down.

Obviously, this is a highly unusual situation in the world of hockey. But the good news for the Sens is that Ullmark, who came in cold when the club didn’t want to change goaltenders, didn’t flinch.

It remains to be seen whether something like this will happen again this season… but it shouldn’t.

Overtime

– I’m not surprised.

– Matt Rempe recalled.

– Of note.

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Lucas Condotta sent to Laval

Montreal is on the move.

The Canadiens have announced that Lucas Condotta has been sent back to the Laval Rocket. He was recalled late Saturday night when it was unclear whether Josh Anderson was okay.

But right now, Condotta was too much.

The Rocket captain didn’t play yesterday: he was there only when needed. And in the end, the Canadiens didn’t need him, as we can clearly see.

At least he’ll have received an NHL paycheck this weekend.

Since the Habs have at least 12 healthy forwards and the club isn’t even playing tonight, there was no point in keeping Condotta up. So he’s back with the Laval Rocket.

We say 12 forwards, but it will also be interesting to see what awaits Juraj Slafkovsky. After all, it’s been about a week since his injury, and the Habs are due to update his file shortly.

As the club is off today, I expect that to happen tomorrow.

As for the Rocket, they’ll be in action in two days at Place Bell. I’m expecting Condotta to be in uniform, so he won’t have missed any of his team’s games, having played on Saturday with the Habs’ club-school.

Overtime

– He’s not expected back in a year.

– Really?

– A name to watch.

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Division: only the Panthers and Lightning are ahead of the Canadiens

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - OCTOBER 27: Aleksei Kolosov #35 of the Philadelphia Flyers protects his net against a scoring chance by Kirby Dach #77 of the Montreal Canadiens at the Wells Fargo Center on October 27, 2024 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Len Redkoles/NHLI via Getty Images)

Last week, following the game against the Rangers, Montreal was in an uproar. And why? Because of the way the club played – very badly.

For several days, the emphasis was placed on the fact that the Habs didn’t look like a #InTheMix club this season.

Without winning the weekend’s two games, it was imperative that the Habs do well. We had to remind people that the Habs can be a club that can fight for the playoffs.

And not only did the club play well, it also picked up two wins against the Blues and Flyers.

Last night in Philly, the Canadiens looked good. You might say that the Flyers weren’t a formidable opponent, but the Habs still looked good for most of the game in Pennsylvania.

The result? As everyone predicted, only the Panthers and Lightning are ahead of the Canadiens in the Atlantic standings. Otherwise, there’s a big tie.

It’s a small sample size, but I didn’t have that on my bingo card 48 hours ago. Did you?

(Credit: NHL.com)

Clearly, we’ll have to wait a bit before buying a folding chair for the parade, but still: the way the club came out, it’s pretty encouraging. It means the guys have their honor.

Even if the final result doesn’t tell the whole story…

1. You have to look back at the way the club (almost) escaped the match at the end of the third period. It was 4-1 until just over two minutes to go, and within seconds, the Flyers scored twice.

It ended 4-3, but the Habs spent the last two minutes fighting back to prevent the Flyers from tying the game.

Everyone knows that if Philly had tied the game yesterday and gone to overtime or the shootout, there would have been tears this morning. But since the Flanelle bent but didn’t break, it passed.

It was a close call for the club.

2. Cayden Primeau picked up his first win of the season. The American, who has roots in the Philadelphia area, had a good game – at least for the first 57 minutes of play.

Good for him and for the Canadiens.

3. Cole Caufield is currently second in the league with eight goals. He’s scoring very often this year (only Nico Hischier has more than Caufield), which is a good thing.

He belongs in the line-up. And he could be rewarded by the NHL at the end of the month…

4. Nick Suzuki also scored during the game. In nine games, he has three goals and eight assists for 11 points. And that’s despite the fact that he didn’t score in the club’s first two games.

He’s reliable.

5. Brendan Gallagher and Jake Evans, who play together on what the Habs called the second line yesterday on Twitter, also scored a goal apiece. They had a good game.

If you put your attention on Jake Evans, who is at the end of his contract, you’ll see a guy who does things right. He’s been excellent this year… and yesterday, he was the second most-used forward (17:07), behind the captain.

6. Although he tried to pull a Michigan yesterday, Matvei Michkov wasn’t the biggest factor in the game. But after the game, Sean Couturier praised the young man’s attitude.

Right now, he’s loved in Philly.

7. This is the first time since February 2023 (February 11-12) that the Habs have won both games back-to-back. In the Sunday afternoon game (it was Kelce Bowl weekend), Alex Belzile scored his first NHL goal.

So it had been a long time.

8. Logan Mailloux sometimes rolls a little fast, but not Lane Hutson. He plays on the powerplay and short-handed… as well as playing quite a bit five-on-five.

21:42 of play yesterday, that’s quite something.

9. Arber Xhekaj was put in a funny situation as a threesome formed early in the game. There was some bickering and in the end he was the only one who was punished.

The Canadiens’ X-account took advantage of the situation to taunt his opponent a little, which is not customary in the Habs. I don’t hate it.

Extension

Normally, the Habs have Sunday off. But yesterday, there was a game, which means the day off will be today instead. No practice is scheduled.

We’ll have to wait until tomorrow for news of practice. That’s the day of the game against the Kraken, at the Bell Centre on Tuesday.

The rest of the week will be spent on the road. On Thursday, the Habs will be in Washington, and on Saturday night, they’ll be in Pittsburgh. So it’s going to be a “typical” week in terms of games.

I can’t wait to see if Lucas Condotta returns to Laval, now that we know Josh Anderson is healthy. If he stays up there, what exactly does that mean?

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Top-3: Leon Draisaitl celebrates with the Wings

Last night, there were four games in the NHL.

The Canadiens beat the Flyers in Philadelphia, and six other clubs were in action.

Here are the results and highlights:

1. Leon Draisaitl celebrates with the Wings

Yesterday was Leon Draisaitl’s 29th birthday.

For the occasion, he treated himself to (the) Wings. He scored not one, but two goals, including the winner in overtime.

In nine games this season, the German has 10 points.

He’s earned himself a cupcake, too.

In addition to his two goals, Draisaitl picked up an assist on this Evan Bouchard goal

What a shot!

Oilers win 3-2.

2. Nico Hischier tops NHL scoring charts

Before the evening’s games, Nico Hischier was tied with Nikita Kucherov (8) at the top of the NHL scoring charts.

But with one goal, he has officially overtaken him.

The Devils finally crushed the Ducks 6-2.

New Jersey had allowed the first goal, but Jack Hughes tied the game fairly quickly.

The club didn’t look back afterwards.

In the win, Stefan Noesen stood out with a two-goal performance. Jonas Siegenthaler, Dougie Hamilton and Dawson Mercer also shone with two assists each.

3. Two points from Nathan MacKinnon in his 800th game

In the final game of the evening, the Ottawa Senators visited Ball Arena to take on the Avalanche.

It was Nathan MacKinnon’s 800th career game.

And he celebrated that plateau in style.

He picked up an assist on Nikolai Kovalenko’s first career goal.

He had scored a goal earlier, but it was disallowed.

Shortly thereafter, there was a somewhat unusual situation in front of the Sens net.

Anton Forsberg left momentarily due to equipment failure. Linus Ullmark came in, made two saves and Forsberg returned.

Pretty weird.

In the third period, Nick Cousins scored his first goal with the Senators to tie the game.

Colorado didn’t give up, however, and scored the next two goals.

Ross Colton took the opportunity to score his eighth goal of the season.

Final score: 5-4 Colorado. MacKinnon scored into an empty net for his second point of the game.

Overtime

– A good game for him.

– A battle of the heavyweights.

– Draisaitl, Travis Sanheim and Casey Mittlestadt lead the charge.

(Credit: NHL.com)

– Eight games on the bill tonight.

(Credit: Google)

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The Habs were hot, but came out on top against the Philadelphia Flyers

On Sunday evening, Matvei Michkov played his first game against the Montreal Canadiens.

Before the game, he had already amassed nine points in eight short games.

For the occasion, Cayden Primeau guarded the Philadelphia cage, since Samuel Montembeault had played the day before.

For the Flyers, 22-year-old Belarusian goaltender Aleksei Kolosov played his first career NHL game.

Interestingly, he was the first Belarusian goaltender to play in NHL history.

It was also a duel between two very good friends, the two head coaches, Martin St-Louis and John Tortorella.

Here’s the Habs line-up for the game:

Right from the start, we saw a very involved Lane Hutson.

With less than three minutes left in the game, the diminutive defenseman moved very well (as usual) in the offensive zone and came very close to scoring his first career goal.

After easily disposing of Nicolas Deslauriers along the boards, he unfortunately hit the post.

He also gave his club another chance to score on the same sequence.

A few minutes after this Hutson presence, we thought we’d be treated to an Arber Xhekaj fight, but everyone was wrong.

Veteran Sean Couturier collided with Kirby Dach and his head was hit.

Of course, like a true protector, Xhekaj invited Couturier to dance.

The latter didn’t seem too keen on facing the colossus, but when he realized he had no choice, he finally threw down the gloves, which Xhekaj also did afterwards.

Just as the fight was about to start, Flyers defenseman Nick Seeler came out of nowhere and jumped on #72…

Result of the skirmish: Arber Xhekaj was the only penalty on the sequence and served two minutes for game misconduct…

You don’t need to say much more, but I’ll give you a chance to judge the sequence for yourself:

Once again, the referees escaped a worse one on this sequence.

That said, the Habs could console themselves by relying on their excellent numerical disadvantage.

In fact, prior to Sunday’s games, Montreal ranked third in the NHL for shorthanded efficiency, with a success rate of nearly 90%.

Shortly after Xhekaj’s dubious penalty, which was easily killed by the Habs, captain Nick Suzuki stepped up to score his third goal of the season.

Jayden Struble moved the puck very well during his shift and fired it into the net.

Kirby Dach, who was passing in front of the opposing goalie, took the return and deflected it to his captain, who had a wide-open net.

Here’s a seventh straight game with at least one point for #14.

Late in the period, however, the Flyers tied the game thanks to Travis Sanheim.

Habs’ Ryan Poehling and Garnet Hathaway were also on the scoresheet.

In the second period, the game swung heavily in the Habs’ favor, as they scored three unanswered goals.

First, with less than five minutes left in the second, Brendan Gallagher, true to form, stepped in front of the net to deflect Logan Mailloux’s shot.

The footage shows him stretching out his leg to take the deflection.

Josh Anderson picked up his third assist of the season, while Mailloux now has two points.

For a rare occasion, the Habs are showing good powerplay efficiency.

And of course, it took none other than Cole Caufield to score another goal on the man advantage.

Suzuki picked up his second point of the game, while Mike Matheson collected his 8ᵉ assist of the season.

The captain now has 11 points in his last seven games.

In the last nine games, the Habs have scored in AN in eight of them.

And finally, three minutes later, Jake Evans flashed the red light for the second time in as many games.

On this goal, Gallagher collected an assist by breaking his stick.

It was probably one of the slowest cross-crease passes I’ve ever seen.

Savard was also an accomplice on the goal.

The third period, unlike the second, was much quieter.

There were chances on both sides, but it looked like the Habs would come out on top.

But at the end of the period, the Flyers scored two goals in 29 seconds.

Travis Sanheim threaded the needle for the second time in the game, while Travis Konecny narrowed the gap to a single goal.

Too little too late for Philadelphia, as the game ended 4-3 to the Habs.

The Habs’ next game is next Tuesday, when the Kraken visit Martin St-Louis’ team at the Bell Centre.

Extension

– Since his transfer to the wing of the first line, Kirby Dach has been having a great time. He’s feeling creative, he’s not afraid to get his hands out on Sunday, he feeds his teammates very well and uses his shot when he needs to.

Seeing him on the wing seems to be the most beneficial solution for the Habs. We’re seeing the real Kirby Dach, and it’s a sight to behold.

– Once again, David Savard had a strong game. As usual, he was very effective defensively and wasn’t afraid to throw himself in front of shots to block them.

It was a little more difficult for the veteran at the very start of the season, and that’s normal, as he’s getting older. But you have to be patient while he finds his comfort zone, and once in it, he’s a very reliable defender.

– Brendan Gallagher particularly impressed me in this game. We saw him do what he does best: get in front of the net, disrupt opponents(including Matvei Michkov) and even collect two points in the game.

That’s the Gallagher we want to see, because that’s where he’s most useful to a team.

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Ivan Demidov named KHL Player of the Week

Ivan Demidov is still the talk of the town.

The Canadiens’ prospect hasn’t had a bad week of late, so the KHL has recognized his achievements. He was named player of the week, or rookie of the week.

One of his teammates, Sergei Plotnikov, also made the list.

What’s interesting is that his nomination as player of the week coincides with the return of his playing time. Did I ever tell you that I don’t believe in chance?

With an average of 13:24 of playing time, he has greatly helped his team. His six assists in three games made the difference for SKA.

Note that the KHL clearly underlined that the young man is only 18 years old. It’s pretty impressive what he’s doing at his age, given the conditions in which he’s placed.

He also took 11 shots on goal, without scoring.

Demidov will be in action today. Once again, we can expect to see him playing on a third line alongside Evgeni Kuznetsov. It’s a formula that’s worked well since the start of the season.

And while we’re on the subject of Demidov, let’s not forget that he liked a Canadiens post about Cole Caufield’s strong start to the season, with eight goals in nine games so far.

Overtime

– Big contract. There’s deferred money in the contract.

– To be continued.

– Claude Julien likes Nick Suzuki’s progression.

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